For medical imaging, such as for magnetic resonance imaging, it is necessary to take account of the weight of a patient when calculating a specific absorption rate SAR. An approximately correct value for the patient's weight not only increases patient comfort during the medical imaging examination but also enhances patient safety during the medical imaging examination. If calculations are based on an incorrect value for patient weight, this can cause the body of the patient to become undesirably hot for example during the medical imaging examination.
To detect the weight of the patient, until now it has been known for the patient to be asked his/her weight before the medical imaging examination and for this to be input manually when registering the patient for the medical imaging examination. However if the patient cannot be consulted or if the inputting of patient weight is overlooked before the medical imaging examination, an estimated value is input for patient weight for example.